ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO

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Professional Development/

Learning

Learning in the Early Years 

Resource Package

Released this year, ETFO’s Learning in the Early 
Years Resource Package is designed to provide 
educator teams, individual teachers and occa-
sional teachers, designated early childhood edu-
cators and teacher leaders with a variety of 
relevant resources to support their professional 
learning. 

Learning in the Early Years: Exploring Our Thinking

 

was written for ETFO by Dr. Kimberly Bezaire 
of George Brown College. It has four sections 
focusing on: the child as learner; the educator 
in the classroom; the learning environment; and 
powerful classroom play.

 The resource package 

also includes three DVDs with accompanying 

ENGAGING OUR MEMBERS

facilitator’s guides: Math Happens in Kindergarten; 
Observation: A Window Into Children’s Thinking; 
and Conversations about Learning in the Early Years 
with Dr. Kimberly Bezaire. The facilitator guides 
correspond to video segments for those wishing 
to use the DVDs to facilitate professional learning 
sessions. 

New Early Years Website 

The website www.etfopley.ca was created as a com-
panion to ETFO’s Learning in the Early Years work-
shop series to enable educator teams, teachers, 
designated early childhood educators and teacher 
leaders across Ontario and beyond to access pro-
fessional learning wherever they are. 

Videos on effective practices in the early years, 
mathematics in Kindergarten and observation 
are offered on the website with accompanying 
sample facilitator’s guides. A photo gallery pro-
vides images of various instructional and orga-
nizational components and classroom tours of 
early years classrooms.  

The Classroom Tours section was created for 
members to ‘experience’ what early years’ class-
rooms look and sound like. Educators discuss 
their classroom environments and the thinking 
behind how they have structured their class-
rooms and instruction. These tours will act as 
starting points for professional conversations 
and reflection. The resource package, individual 
video DVDs and accompanying facilitators’ guides 
are available for purchase through shopETFO.